Surprises!!

The past month has been interesting and fun (for me at least!).  I decided for my second break to surprise my family by coming home for break without them knowing that I was coming. It was a great break!!

The week started off with the surprise, and then a Celtic Thunder concert, listening to live bluegrass music by some of my family's friends, not just one but two campfires and cookouts, spending a day outside working on the yard, and a fun family photo shoot.  I had a great time visiting with my family and am looking forward to when the program is over and I can spend some more time with them over the holidays.

Got safely back to the Vicksburg campus and started working on the meetings that we needed to present before heading out on our next project.  We headed to Dry Ridge Kentucky to work with Habitat for Humanity on building a house for a family whose house was destroyed by tornadoes that came through the area in March.  We have been here three weeks already and will be leaving on Wednesday to head to Saucier Mississippi to work with the Mississippi Children Home Services.

One thing that I am really excited and nervous about is that I was accepted as a Team Leader next year for the Sacramento campus working with FEMA.  It means that I will be away from my family for another year, but that I will be getting the training that I really want in order to do disaster relief work.

Memphis

Hmm, let's see--a team blow up, Max coming back, sent on a disaster assignment, finally we were sent to our project, got poison ivy--let's just say that it has been a very eventful past month.  Two days before Max came back, there was a team blow up with half of the team basically blaming me for a lot of things.  It ended with me walking out of the meeting crying.  I talked with Ana (our temp team leader), then in the next couple of days I talked with our Unit Leader Justin saying that I wanted off the team or I would go home.  It was basically a climax for me, Justin decided to leave me on the same team.  Max and I have talked about it several times and I feel that staying here will work.  The day that Max came back, our team was sent on a disaster assignment to Jackson Mississippi as a result of Tropical Storm Isaac hitting the gulf coast.  We worked long hours helping the Red Cross manage a shelter in Jackson.  After a week, the shelter was closed and we were sent to Gulfport Mississippi to help the Red Cross with mass distribution of supplies.  Basically, we were unloading tractor trailers and loading up Emergency Response Vehicles.  The Red Cross was having a hard time trying to figure out how to best use us, so after three days of getting the run around, we were sent back to our regular projects.
I am currently in Memphis Tennessee working with the Vollintine Evergreen Community Association (VECA) mostly doing yard work.  Hence the poison ivy, I figured out that in large quantities I react to poison ivy.  Thankfully I finally went to the doctor and got some medicine to help heal it.  We are staying at Pilgrim House Hostel in Midtown Memphis and I have really enjoyed staying at the hostel and meeting people from around the world.
Our next (and last) project is a split round where we will be working with Habitat in Kentucky and with a childrens camp in Mississippi.  Both of the projects heavily involve construction, so I am happy about that even though it was not my first choice.  Our first choice was the Florida Keys working with Habitat, but that project was given to a different team.  All in all, I have been mostly enjoying my experiences this year and seeing how much I have stretched myself but I am also looking forward to whatever adventures are in store for me next.